Thursday, January 20, 2005

the Great White North

As a former Calgarian I find myself reading the Calgary Herald web page from time to time. I was reading it today when I found this little gem of an article. The article is about a new Liberal trade delegation to China. In Shanghai, Trade Minister Jim Peterson commented that China is "an important engine of economic growth around the world." No way, you must be joking JIm? Wow, it's only 2005 who knew that China was so important. I guess he's never been to Walmart to see where everything is being made now. Hey Jim did you buy any Christmas decorations this year? Chances are it was made in China. I guess he has never read a business section for the past ten years. Wow, what a visionary this Peterson kid is.

Peterson went on to comment, ""Canadian companies and their government see that the train is leaving the station and they want to catch it," Peterson said in a prepared speech. "If we don't, someone else will." Well Mr. Peterson that someone is the whole fucking world. Leave it to the Canadian government to finally start attaching special importance to China in 2005. Is it true that Canadian businessmen are finally seeing the potential of the Chinese market? If this is in fact true then Canada must have some the worst businessmen in the world. Who doesn't know about China or maybe I am just naive. Never mind the fact that Canada has exactly what China needs, raw materials and energy. And to be blunt that is all they need from Canada. Canada is doomed if the public and private sectors in Canada have just recently clued into the vast potential of China. It should be fun seeing how the Jim Petersons of the world fare in China. A Taiwanese businessman I know told me "Canadian businessmen aren't that tough, they are very easy to deal with." These guys should do really well in the Wild Wild East.